NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
January 18, 2025
Nature Moncton members as well as any
naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are invited to share their photos
and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily
edition of Nature News
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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols
**When Yolande LeBlanc was doing another Feeder Watch day
at her Memramcook feeder yard, she spotted 1 Brown Creeper on the peanut butter
log.
Yolande comments It's a fascinating bird! For one thing,
its name does not do it justice. It has a rusty lower back and rusty wash on
the side of the underbelly. Not just brown! As she watched a second Brown
Creeper came to the suet cage and feed there for a bit. At one point, they were
side by side on the spruce tree. To her surprise she saw one on the magnum
feeder, trying to extract a seed, which it eventually did. It
immediately proceeded to an aspen tree to open the seed. This bird is
a survivalist!
Yolande notes one of the Pine Warblers has survived so
far.
**Tony Thomas adds an additional interesting fact to the
list provided in yesterday’s edition about our provincial bird, the
Black-capped Chickadee by David Lilly.
Tony comments that the overwintering strategy includes
communal roosting.
About 30 years ago, while taking an early evening,
still light, walk in mid-winter in the UNB woodlot, Tony saw one Black-capped
Chickadee enter a hole in a dead tree; about one minute later, a
second bird entered, and so on until he saw half a dozen pop in.
**Susan Richards comments that a walk at the SACKVILLE
WATERFOWL PARK was quiet with not a bird in sight nor sound on Thursday. The
water had frozen and thawed areas. It was still and beautiful. It was still and beautiful.
**Brian and Annette Stone walked a side trail on the
Riverview Marsh on Friday afternoon and were amazed at how tall the non-native
invasive phragmites (Phragmites australis spp. australis) plants
were. They decided to pose for photos beside them for scale.
**Early Friday morning, Bev Schneider and Nelson Poirier
did a run of the Tantramar Marsh. The early morning rising sun created an
incredible vista over the marsh with tall grasses and reeds coated with
glistening frost.
The raptors were the main event, tallying 13 Rough-legged
Hawks, 4 Red-tailed Hawks, and 5 Bald Eagles (all adult). Most were at a
considerable distance but identifiable with a birding scope.
Bev and Nelson share a few documentary photos that were
within the limit of camera range, mostly light morph Rough-legged Hawks
and one dark morph Rough-legged Hawk.
The marsh was busy was raptors, some too distant to
identify with certainty. A great day on the Tantramar!
**On a birdfeeder tip from Jamie Burris, Nelson Poirier
added a Dollarama seed bell to the birdfeeder yard menu. It was a good tip as
it is enjoyed by several species including sparrows, woodpeckers, and
White-breasted Nuthatch.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
